State plans to set up honey cluster villages
As reports emerged that most of the honey manufactured in the country is adulterated with sugar syrup, the state government has started an initiative to establish ‘Madhugrams’ and provide 80 per cent subsidy to for apiculture. HC Tiwari, joint-director for horticulture, said they have initiated a process to set up ‘Madhugram’ (Honey cluster villages). “Our state has been bestowed with ample gifts by Mother Nature which helps in production of pure, unadulterated honey,” he said.
Nainital to provide palanquins for pregnant women
To help people struggling due to lack of transport facilities in remote hill areas in the district, the Nainital district administration is providing palanquins for pregnant women. The initiative comes in the wake of lack of transport and good roads in remote hill areas which in many cases lead to loss of life of pregnant women. Savin Bansal, district magistrate of Nainital district, said: “We have enrolled palanquin owners from selected areas of the district. This will help save many lives. In future the scheme will be expanded to more places where such initiative is needed most.” In August 2018 the Uttarakhand High Court had expressed concerns over bad roads due to which pregnant women have to suffer.
Kumaoni, Garhwali in Indic keyboard
Google’s Indic keyboard that allows users to type in their own native languages has added Kumaoni and Garhwali too, the two most prominent languages of Uttarakhand. The move has been welcomed by residents of Uttarakhand and speakers of the two languages. Users can now type in the words in Roman script and the text will show up in Garhwali and Kumaoni in the Devanagari script. Kumaoni and Garhwali have been accorded status of endangered languages by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Lawyers unite against denotifying forest land
A total of 86 lawyers from different parts of country have requested the Chief Justice (CJ) of the Uttarakhand High Court to intervene to protect the Shivalik Elephant Reserve. The government had recently decided to denotify the reserve to ease the expansion of Dehradun airport by felling over 10,000 trees. A letter dated December 1, 2020, penned by the lawyers stated, “The decision prima facie appears to be hasty and short sighted and taken without due consideration for the natural environment and wildlife conservation, despite the ongoing reality of climate change and rapidly rising pollution.”